Need a quick sauce that’s a cut above the jar?

Time: 20 minutes:

Difficulty: 1/5

Ingredient Availability: 5/5

If you ever needed a quick tomato sauce, maybe you just bought one from a jar. If you could make one yourself for just 10 minutes, would you? What if it were a lot better than the jar you usually get? I think that’s the point of this recipe. If you’re making a spaghetti and meatballs recipe, for example, you’re probably already making the meatballs yourself and the pasta is from a box. If you take just 10 minutes more, or even less while you prepare other things, you might be able to really elevate your dish. Let’s find out if this is an accurate assessment.

Key Ingredients & Omissions:

As this is the namesake of this recipe, DOP San Marzano tomatoes (Canned) are pretty much required. I don’t know how the sauce would come out with other tomatoes, but I think it makes sense to get them, as there aren’t many ingredients.

Tools:

• Food processor

Cooking Review:

Making sauce: 20 Minutes

After crushing some garlic with the side of my knife, I added them to some olive oil that had been heated to shimmering along with the salt. Once the garlic had become fragrant, I added the red pepper flakes. The tomatoes, which had been pulsed in the food processor were then added and stirred. Once the sauce came to a boil, I removed it from the heat and stirred in the sugar and basil. The sauce was left to steep for a few minutes before serving.

Analysis:

I served this sauce with some thick cut noodles (cut up fresh pasta sheets left over from a previous analysis). I really liked this sauce, given the 20 minutes it took, I wouldn’t be upset at all using this instead of a jarred sauce. There is a very slight level of spice and I enjoyed the balance of sweetness and acidity. The flavors are really pretty impressive given the ingredients. I could pick up on the garlic, but the basil was quite a bit more subtle. Despite taking twice as long as the recipe’s name would suggest, I’ll give this recipe a 9/10. Two times ten isn’t that bad and it’s a more interesting sauce than the average store bought stuff.